Showing posts with label Genetics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Genetics. Show all posts

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Six Pregnancy Myths Revealed


Author: Stef Daniel
You are pregnant. Normally, this means that you are undeniably privy to hearing all the old wives tales, myths, and secrets to pregnancy that range from revealing the sex of your baby to how much hair your baby will have upon delivery. So really, what is true and what is not?

1. Does Carrying Low Mean I am Carrying a Boy?

Older women will rub your belly and say, “Wow, you’re carrying low, so you must be a having a boy.” Or vice versa. The truth is that every woman carries her baby differently and will carry one baby differently than she does a second or third. The way your tummy looks has more to do with how the baby is positioned in your uterus than the sex of the baby. It is also based on your height, weight, and how far along you are, as well as some predetermined genetics. In fact, there are plenty of myths specific to gender. The raw truth is that just because the needles hung over your belly at your shower seemed to sway in one direction or another doesn’t necessarily mean you will have a boy or a girl. Most of the people who believe in that sort of stuff only do because it worked for them. Yet, I have had 4 children and it wasn’t right in any case. If you want to know the sex, ask the ultrasound tech to tell you. (Although it’s more fun to guess.)

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Superstitions Aren’t Silly; They’re Evolutionary.

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Break a mirror and you’re stuck with bad luck. Walk under a ladder and you’re tempting fate. Sound ridiculous? Scientists believe such beliefs may be genetic, part of adaptive behaviors passed on to create an evolutionary advantage to surviving impending danger.

Boiled down, a superstition is the belief that one event caused another event, without any evidence of the link. “All animals will display behaviors that imply a causal relationship that isn’t there,” says Kevin Foster, evolutionary biologist at Harvard University. Foster uses a pigeon as an example: The pigeon will take flight if it hears a hand clap, the same way it would react if it heard a gun shot.